Prosper Marie Giquel and the making of a modern Chinese navy

Prosper Marie Giquel was a French naval officer who arrived in China in 1856. He studied Chinese and worked in the Imperial Maritime Customs Service in Ningbo, Shanghai and Hankou. In 1862, he helped military strategist Zuo Zongtang organize the anti-Taiping "ever triumphant army." Giquel and Zuo had campaigned together against the rebels. In the fall of 1864, the duo began to discuss ways of establishing a modern navy for China.